


In Bloom

by WritLarge



Series: JackRabbit 2017 fics [3]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Fluff, Jackrabbit Week 2017, M/M, Soulmarks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-20 19:40:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10669461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritLarge/pseuds/WritLarge
Summary: Jack finally has soulmarks, though one in particular seems to be growing on him.





	In Bloom

Soulmarks. He finally had soulmarks!

Jack had noticed the first few on his ankle. Snowflakes. They had to be believer marks, one each for Jamie, Pippa, Monty, Cupcake, Claude, Caleb, each unique, plus one more at half the size that must have been for Sophie. 

Were there more?

Jack turned and twisted to look at his skin, yanking off his hoodie. 

He’d never had soulmarks. Always alone, Jack had hoped maybe someday he would, that his skin would show the connections of his heart as plainly as it did for most people. Not a SoulMate mark, that was too much to ask, but a few little symbols of affection and kinship... and here they were. Little shapes and symbols representing his friends peppered his skin. It had happened so quickly too. Becoming a Guardian and bonding with the others over imminent peril had probably done it. Intense emotions and everything. Plus, he remembered his family now, a little at least.

The pair of tiny black-capped chickadees he could see on his shoulderblade were likely for his sister and mother. They were small and faint, but if he regained more of his memories they might grow. Maybe he’d remember why the marks were chickadees too. 

The irridescent feathers were obviously for Tooth and the fairies. A large plume on his left bicep with dozens of smaller ones trailing down his arm, one with a daring streak of gold that had to be for Baby Tooth.

His right arm sported a curved sabre, its handle ringed with holly. North. And holding his arm out, he could see the golden glitter that spiraled around his wrist in a coil. Definitely Sandy.

But that was all. He held his arms up and studied the skin. No Bunny? Jack bit his lip, disappointed by the omission. They’d become closer since Jack had taken the Oath and he’d thought, maybe... Jack sighed and dropped his arms. Too much wishful thinking then.

A shock of green caught his attention when he glanced down. There, on his stomach and circling his navel, was a ring of green leaves. Bunny. Jack grinned with relief. 

He examined himself again and again as the weeks passed, still in awe of the marks. Meeting with the Guardians and further building their friendships intensified the designs too. They’d darken, or shimmer, or etch themselves into place in more detail. The greenery on his stomach, however, was something else. Every time he spoke with Bunny it grew, spreading out, gaining not only more detail but a lushness that was almost surreal against Jack’s pale colouring.

Not that anyone else could tell. His hoodie covered them completely. Jack did manage to turn the conversation around to Soulmarks once though, when he realized that North’s tattoos had been inked around his own markings. That had led to a long discussion about Guardians Jack hadn’t even met yet, represented on North’s skin by a book, a clock, and what appeared to be shards of light?

Nobody else volunteered to show their marks or asked Jack about his. Once he learned about where Sandy and Bunny were from, it made sense that they wouldn’t have them, not being human anyway. Tooth probably didn’t either. None of them wore much in the way of clothing, so it wasn’t as though the marks could be hidden either.

So Jack cherished his marks quietly as they solidfied. Only Bunny’s mark shifted, the greenery growing and creating a path up his torso. He wasn’t sure marks were meant to do that, but he wasn’t ready to ask. As for why it was it was happening...

The leaves always went through a spurt of growth after he spent time with Bunny. Visiting his Warren, helping with his holiday, even just exploring together, going to all the places Jack had never known that Bunny would recommend. He loved that time together. With their conflicts and rivalry behind them, Jack and Bunny fit together surprisingly well, and the more they were together, the more Jack wanted. He’d literally been able to feel the mark shoot up when Bunny had caught Jack’s shoulders in a half hug one day.

When the green reached higher and began to bunch up on his chest, Jack was forced to admit his feelings. To himself anyway. He didn’t think Bunny would much care for Jack gushing all over him. Friends yes, but a skinny, sassy human probably wasn’t the kind of thing extraterrestrial not-rabbits went in for.

So Jack sucked it up and took what he could get. He managed three more months before fate intervened and he lost his shirt – literally. And of course he’d been forced to stumble into the Warren for help.

Bunny’s eyes went wide at the sight of him.

“Umm, I-” Jack flinched and tried to hunch in on himself, which was difficult considering the gash in his side. 

“Stop,” Bunny grabbed his shoulders and held him still. “Quit moving. Stay here and I’ll get something to close that up with.” 

He guided Jack to sit. Bunny dashed off and was back so fast, Jack thought that he might have blacked out for a minute.

“This might sting. Hold still.” Something cool spread along his ribcage where the wound was, sending numbness radiating out along his skin. “All right?”

Jack nodded weakly. Bunny began in silence, pulling the edges of the injury together and securing it somehow. Blinking, he looked down to see where Bunny’s hands worked, only a few inches from the swath of green on Jack’s skin. 

“You’ve got a pretty collection of soulmarks, Jackie.”

Jack swallowed hard, “Yeah. They came in after I took the Oath... I think.”

“After?” One of Bunny’s hands paused and then strayed towards the leaves. “Are they that new-”

“They’re just marks!” Jack scrambled back and winced. “I mean, I don’t expect you to-”

“Stop. Stop moving,” Bunny snapped. “Sit still.”

Jack did as he was told, watching Bunny warily. Bunny shuffled closer and settled onto his haunches next to him.

“Can I?” he asked, reaching out again but stopping to hover over Jack’s skin. His eyes were so green, matching the foliage inches below his hand.

“O-okay.” He’d already seen them. Jack figured it couldn’t get any worse. 

Bunny gently let his fingertips graze along the pattern of green, “That’s lovely.” As if in response, the marks shivered beneath Bunny’s touch and tight green buds that had hidden themselves between the leaves unfurled. At least a dozen small blooms opened, dotting Jack’s chest, the largest right over his heart. Bunny smiled. “Asters.”

“Does that mean something?”

“Aster’s my name,” Bunny said, giving Jack a soft look, “or part of it at any rate.”

“Aster.” Named after a flower, or the other way around probably. 

Bunny trailed his hand up the path that the flowers made, “There’s quite a lot of them, I reckon.”

“Yeah.” Jack’s breath caught when Bunny’s hand stopped over his breastbone, his heart fluttering beneath his ribs. “I didn’t know a mark could do that.” 

“It’s uncommon. Means the mark’s for me.”

“I know.”

“When?”

“It’s been growing since I noticed it, a few days after I took the Oath. I don’t know when it actually started.”

“I do,” Bunny murmured. “That night at Jamie’s.” 

Jack knew immediately when he meant. That moment after they’d met up and Bunny had been small. When Jamie had told him that Jack had made him believe, and Bunny, small and surprised, had looked up at him and smiled. They’d connected in that instant. It had felt right, like a beginning.

Jack brought his hand up from his good side and placed it over Bunny’s on his chest.

“Right,” Aster cleared his throat, “Come on. You should rest.”

“Whoa, whoa. What are you doing?” Jack asked when Bunny slid an arm under his knees.

“Picking you up. You can bunk at my place.”

“I- you,” Jack flushed as Bunny carefully scooped him up, good arm going over grey furred shoulders. “You don’t have to.”

“Jackie, you’ve got my name inked over your heart,” Bunny pressed his face against Jack’s temple briefly and nuzzled him. “You’re staying.”

“Only if you want me to.” _Only if you want me._ Jack’s managed to keep his voice from cracking. He didn’t want pity. He knew that what he had for Bunny was a SoulMate mark, but Aster wasn’t even human. He might not-

“Do you think those flowers would have bloomed if I didn’t?” Oh. That’s right. His mark had reacted to Bunny’s touch. The knot of worry in Jack’s stomach loosened. Of course it meant something that the SoulMate mark had bloomed, only reaching its proper form with Bunny's feelings to complete it. Jack gripped his shoulder a little tighter and buried his face in the fur of Aster's neck, grinning foolishly. “All right?”

“We’re Soul Mates, Bunny,” Jack couldn’t stop smiling, his doubts quashed. “You’re never going to get rid of me now.”

Aster laughed, “That works both ways, you know.”

He did. Jack’s fingers traced over the lush greenery that inked his skin, buoyed by its permanence, “Sounds good to me.”


End file.
